When her drunken cop
stepfather Burt (Lawrence Tierney, THE PROWLER) tries to force himself on her, Nancy
(Melanie Verlin, MONKEY SHINES) knocks him out, packs
a bag, and takes to the road to hitchhike to her sister’s
place in California. She gets picked up by Tom (John Hall,
SURF NAZIS MUST DIE) and Hank (Charles Jackson), who
are on their way to Ft. Lauderdale for spring break. As they
make their way through the countryside, they encounter
racist, unfriendly locals and are warned about mysterious
disappearances and murders (by a reverend [Bob Johnson, the
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE tape recorder voice] and his
daughter [LaChele Carl, BATMAN] who are subsequently
murdered). When they shoplift at a local grocery store, they
outrace the cops by turning off into the backwoods. Despite
the sighting of a creepy hillbilly (seemingly carrying a
corpse in a sheet), they decide it would be the ideal
secluded spot to camp for the night. The next morning, Nancy
goes for a walk and two sadistic cops show up. They accuse
Tom and Hank of a rape/murder and kill them in cold blood.
They pursue Nancy, who takes shelter in a farmhouse only to
discover that it is the home of a backwoods family of
Satanists, including the two fake cops Abraham (John Amplas,
MARTIN) and Luke (Greg Besnak,
KNIGHTRIDERS),
their Leatherface-like (minus the mask) brother Cyrus (David
Marchck), and their sister Cynthia (Robin Walsh). Nancy is
locked in a cage alongside Gwen (Ellie Wyler) while Abraham
and Luke go off in search of another girl, since they need
three sacrifices in time for midnight on Easter Sunday on
which they hope to resurrect the mummified corpse of their
mother (Jackie Nicoll, THE MAJORETTES). Meanwhile,
Nancy’s mother (Doris Hackney) has become worried about her
absence and has sent Burt off in search of her. Burt tracks
Tom and Hank’s van to the other side of the state through
the state police. He catches sight of the van and sees
Abraham, Luke, and Cyrus burying the body of their first
sacrificial victim. He overhears that they have Nancy and
that she will be the final sacrifice. He follows them back
on foot, but will he be able to save Nancy?

Although made in the early eighties, MIDNIGHT has a very
seventies vibe its washed-out photography, dissonant synth
suspense cues, and the sub-TEXAS
CHAINSAW captivity and crazy family scenario (the
theme song “Midnight Again” also sounds very seventies AM
radio). The pacing drags a little and the finale is a bit
limp, but it is interesting that Russo does not definitively
answer whether the Satanists’ powers are real or if they are
just a bunch of wackos screwed up by their mother (who is
seen in the opening pre-credits sequence instructing her
then-young children on sacrificing “demons” – disguised as
humans – to Satan). The production was primarily the work of
Russo (as writer/director) and Paul McCollough as director
of photography, editor, still photographer, and composer (McCollough
also composed the score for the 1990 NIGHT OF THE LIVING
DEAD remake). Bill Hinzman (NIGHT
OF THE LIVING DEAD’s cemetery ghoul) is credited as
another still photographer. Casting director Raymond Laine –
who starred in George Romero’s THERE’S ALWAYS VANILLA
and had a prominent supporting role in his SEASON OF THE
WITCH – is credited alongside Russo, Besnak, and Tom
Savini (FRIDAY
THE 13TH) with special effects for the climax.
Tierney became involved in the low-budget production through
mostly hand-off producer Sam Sherman of exploitation great
Independent-International Pictures Corporation (Tierney had
previously been featured in I-I’s color reshoot framing
footage for EXORCISM AT MIDNIGHT, the 1980 reworking
of the 1966 British black and white voodoo flick NAKED
EVIL). Verlin later Russo’s lesser-known sequel MIDNIGHT 2 (along with most of the first film’s cast as
“archival footage”).

Arrow Video’s
fullscreen – original aspect ratio – presentation of MIDNIGHT is
not really the hoped-for improvement over LionsGate’s bare-bones
presentation. Although it appears to be sourced from an NTSC
tape master (the running times between the PAL and NTSC discs
are nearly identical), the R1 DVD is also interlaced and
drab-looking. There seems to be timecode running across the top
of the frame which is either slightly, but not completely,
cropped or squished. The R1 is slightly sharper, but not enough
to recommend it over the PAL edition since the latter does have
the edge in extras, including an interview with writer-director
John Russo (in an Easter Egg segment, he also shows off the
covers of UNDEAD – a compilation of his long out of print
novelizations of
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
and RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD – and another novelization
of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD by another author that also
features a reproduction of his screenplay).

Also included is
an introduction (played before the film, but also available to
view from the special features menu) and an interview with actor
John Amplas. Besides Arrow’s usual reversible cover and
double-sided, fold-out poster, Arrow also includes a collectible
booklet that includes writing by Stephen Thrower (whose
NIGHTMARE USA is a highly recommended tome on obscure
American horror). The booklet was not included with the
checkdisc. Despite being an NTSC-PAL conversion with tape damage
visible on the top of the frame (your TV’s overscan may render
this invisible) – it looks no worse in playback than the awful
R1 edition and it offers extras.